Friday, July 11, 2014

Don't forget your "menstrual activist gear"

A couple of days ago, I read with enormous amusement the following article: University offers female students extra credit for not shaving their armpits.

It seems students in Arizona State University's (cough) Center for Feminist Research on Gender and Sexuality Group can "receive extra credit for defying social norms and refusing to shave for 10 weeks during the semester." The students keep a journal. One young lady reported the experience to be "life changing." (I think this young lady needs a more exciting life.)


Being truly equal opportunity activists, male students can participate (by shaving "their bodies from the neck down") to become "activists" in the realm of body hair.

Just think -- parents are paying tens of thousands of dollars in tuition for this stuff. (Or students are going into debt for the same amount for these kinds if enriching activities that anyone can do for free.) According to one student, "The experience helped me better understand how pervasive gendered socialization is in our culture. Furthermore, by doing this kind of activist project I was no longer an armchair activist theorizing in the classroom. So much is learned by actually taking part in the theory or idea we learn in the classroom, and we could benefit from this type of pedagogy being taken up by similar classes." (Is that armchair activist or arm hair activist...? Just asking.)

And after graduation, this will help her get a job HOW? "Look, I haven't shaved! I recognize how pervasive gendered socialization is in our culture! I'm no longer an armchair activist! Hire me!"

(By the way, the Center for Feminist Research on Gender and Sexuality also sells "awesome menstrual activist gear" just in case your wardrobe could use some sprucing up. I would have showed a picture of the T-shirt they sell, but it's so vulgar I didn't want it to soil my blog.)


Sigh. And to think our feminine girls will be missing out on these "life changing experiences" by NOT attending such places as Arizona State University. The poor deprived things.


Which begs the question -- where DO Gender Studies majors find jobs after they graduate? Besides university Women's Studies departments or Starbucks or "pity" jobs with the government, that is? I'm quite serious -- who hires them?

31 comments:

  1. Hopefully no one.

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  2. Oh, Patrice! I followed the link to their 'products' page....beyond obscene! One item appeared to be a Cross that's being profaned.

    I reported them to Etsy. We'll see what happens. So glad you didn't post these images on your blog.

    Readers:BEWARE!

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    1. It's a Venus Symbol to represent the female species. Even at that those items are disgusting.

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    2. It's a Venus Symbol to represent the female species not a cross - above the plus sign (cross) is a circle. All the t-shirts are way too graphic and I see no need for them.

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    3. you're right, Tom..I was so horrified I didn't see the whole image. Thanks for correcting me.

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  3. My friend had a Women's Studies major after being convinced by a college professor to switch. She worked in an RV factory until she switched into a social work job. The later is at least a little more closely tied.

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  4. I found many people work in fields that are not related to the major. I rather think it's the norm.

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  5. Wow. This is quite laughable, yet also disturbing!

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  6. The thing I can't get my head around is, how does this "activism" actually benefit girls and women who need help? Does it reduce trafficking of minors in Southeast Asia and elsewhere? Does it free the captive schoolgirls of Boko Haram? Does it supply diapers or baby clothes or childcare or a nice job-interview outfit to a needy woman in the local community? Does it reduce domestic violence? Does it help mothers in third-world countries start gardens or microbusinesses to feed their families? Does it send a girl to school or get her vaccinations or save her from mutiliaton or honor killing? No, it just makes First World college students forget the massive privilege they live in, and think of themselves as victims who need to be "freed". Arm Hair activisim sounds a lot like Hashtag Activism - the false feeling of self-righteousness with absolutely no real-world benefit for anyone.

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  7. Yea this is just as retarded as abstinence only education. I'm happy that I can see BS from both side of the spectrum.

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    1. sorry you aren't able to communicate as a rational adult. i suspect whomever was responsible for your education was certainly full of bs and passed it on to you.

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    2. Leila, although I agree that abstinence only education will not work for the general population (most Americans only talk the talk, not walk the walk), it should be obvious that the blogger, and her readers, would likely believe it can work for their families. At least abstinence has some facts and common sense to back it up (no sex means no STDs or pregnancy), while the "activism" discussed is nonsensical and randomly hostile. Knowing the climate of this blog, and coming in rudely and stirring things up, doesn't make any point at all. I believe you would be called a "troll" and you make a bad name for others who might agree with you in theory. Leave these people alone, or just read and make comments when you are feeling polite, you can disagree without being disagreeable.

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    3. Egad! How can you pretend to be sophisticated and modern and then use the word "retarded"? Gasp!! You should try not shaving for awhile it may open your mind. I myself do not shave my legs all winter and call it insulation! Your BS has now been seen from both sides of the speculum...er... spectrum. ;)

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  8. I think the idea behind this is basically "Experience being different, and write about it". Presumably the course credit is for writing about it. The idea being that a person with hairy armpits is not in any way a worse person than the same person with shaved armpits, but people will - apparently - treat them differently. Giving this professor the benefit of the doubt, it's a bit like someone spending a day in a wheelchair to see how people on the street treat the disabled? The symbol on that t shirt used to be pretty common here to indicate male and female public toilets - but recently too many people have probably forgotten which is which... (male equivalent is a kind of circle with an arrow at the top right)

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  9. I can answer your last question. They have been using gender studies grads to fill up history teaching slots, government jobs especially in the area of museums and natural resource departments and creating other jobs for them to teach or preach more die-versity.

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  10. Gosh ., I do not know where they work. These are very naïve young women . Have they never in their lives read even one book about Europe or even the Amish?? The Amish near us do not shave there legs , ever , as far as I can tell . I believe we do need MORE diversity in this country , the best place to start would be to introduce our young people to REAL LIFE for a change.

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  11. Please don't be too harsh on Arizona State University! It has a highly recognized law school where our son will be in his 3rd year this fall. He (not necessarily the school, obviously) has very conservative views and will be one to uphold Christian values when he is set loose after his education.

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  12. You know, I'm glad to see young people being taught that the cultural standard of beauty is just that-- cultural, media-generated, and ad-based-- and not some God-given absolute last word on what is beautiful.

    Certainly I don't want my daughters, in adherence to the culture, to think that they must emulate Miley Cyrus (one example) if they want to be beautiful. I'm glad to see young people THINKING.

    Now, as for whether or not thinking about hairy armpits passes for a job skill...

    ...well, I hope that some day we can manage to have a little more respect for those who are different from ourselves. You have to admit, it would be nice to never again get a tongue-lashing from another psychotic feminist, as she has suddenly come to realize that she can live her life, and you can live yours, and neither of you have to harm the other by your mere existence.

    I seriously doubt thinking about armpit hair is a job qualification. But I like the idea of living in a world where a basically harmless failure to conform is ignored instead of ridiculed.

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    1. I may be off base, but I took the point about "who hires these women" in that 1) in most jobs, certainly those which require a college degree, you don't wear anything that would show your armpits anyway. And if you intend on making a point of it, you will certainly have trouble getting a job. 2) Showing up at work with "menarchist" attire is definitely going to restrict your options. 3) There are many "life-changing" personal experiments that do not require paying (and especially going into debt for) college tution - all you need is a library card and an imagination. That's how I took it, but that may not be what Patrice was getting at.

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  13. A relative majored in Women's Studies at a famous and very expensive university. She works as a paralegal at a relative's law office with the same wage as a high school graduate who also works there.

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    1. And, pray tell, what's the debt service on her college loan costing her as compared to that high school graduate?

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  14. I love the photo of your daughters. It looks like it could have been
    taken in the 1940's. No TV, no computer that I can see, both
    young ladies wearing skirts, etc.

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  15. As I looked over the linked material, I at first struggled to believe it was intended to be taken seriously and was not some farcical comic piece. Once you get your head around the fact these folks are 'for real', I find it both frightening and sad.

    Frightening that those people will likely expend the same angry energy towards furthering those socially and personally destructive ideologies after they leave their 'incubator for perverted thinking' following graduation. The damage to those persons and to our society will not be limited to a small, debased group within the ASU community. Just as with the rest of us, every life they touch will be influenced either for good or ill. In this case, it will NOT be for good.

    Sad because they and anyone they influence with their mind-damaging message will suffer greatly during this life and perhaps for eternity for their debasement and rebellion. They
    will be cheated out of whatever blessings God had planned for them because they chose rebellion and perversion over submission and discipleship. One has to wonder what those young women and men were like before coming ASU.

    I'm also aware that ASU is just one of the many 'institutes of higher learning' that support a sub-culture, loudly demanding to be taken seriously, that seems to be dedicated to the dismantling of a traditional moral society. Our only hope is for the rest of us to stand tall and hold the line on those qualities that made our nation, in it's founding, a God-centered republic, and to make sure OUR children are raised in such a way they will recognize 'toxic idealism' when they hear it.

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  16. I convinced my brother to shave his pits to reduce his terrible BO. I guess that makes him an activist now. If so, he's been a feminism activist for years. LOL It works BTW. He stinks much less and reports that it keeps him a little cooler.

    ASU is a great school that has some excellent programs. Don't let the gender studies people represent them.

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  17. Oops, please ignore my earlier comment. I stand by what I said about cultural standards of beauty...

    ...but a wrong lesson turned inside out and stood on it's head isn't a right lesson. It's just a wrong lesson on the other extreme.

    And there is NOTHING positive about the attitude displayed on that t-shirt. NOTHING. Ewwwwww. Those women make me want to, like, shave everything below the neck, get pregnant, and chain myself to the kitchen stove.

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  18. Ah, yes... and the liberal-"progressive" beat goes on...

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  19. I fear they will all get jobs as university teachers and mainstream media journalists. Ick.

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  20. Tyrants (most notably Communists) have a history of using 'useful idiots' to effect change upon 'the people'. These misled bimbos at ASU are being used toward the same end. And their ultimate master is the master of evil.
    Montana Guy

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  21. Downright scary to see how many of them mention getting jobs working with kids.

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